My fruit tress started out with some woolly aphids growing on them, and some other bugs eating the leaves. I researched some bee friendly ways of killing pests (to be shared later), and now the fruit trees are doing rather well.

To protect the tree trunks from my mower, and to hold mulch, I made some tire planters by cutting out the sidewalls, flipping them inside out, and laying them over the branches. I did this now, because once the tree grows a little more the tire won’t fit over it.

Being the idea guy that I am, once I cut up 4 tires to make mulching rings, I wanted to cut up MORE tires to make planters – after all I had a dump truck load of dirt brought in for the raised beds, and still have 1/3 of a dump truck load sitting on my driveway…

The wife bucked a little when she saw the back of my cube filled up with steel belted radials, but I let her pick out a gastly yellow paint and promised her we would not look trashy with tires spread all around the yard so she went back in the house (calmer, but still skeptical).

I cut up several tires, flipped them, painted them, and set them in a row near the road and filled them with dirt.

In these I planted delgold tobacco, sunflowers, and lots of potatoes.

My new grape vine is looking good, so are my other potatoes, and garlic.

I bought some ducks – both because they are cute, and because I need another excuse to get out to dig the fish pond that has been on my list for the past two years…

All and all I am quite pleased with my garden system this year, and while my set up is not optimal, if I waited until I had some acreage and my dream home I would never get started. I am blooming where I am planted, learning, building, and growing so that by the time I get my dream farm I will have the kinks worked out of my system and will know exactly what to build, where, and when…

About The Author

David Nash

Dave Nash served 6 years in active duty in the US Marines, and is in his 18th year of state service. During his career he worked in both State Emergency Management and Corrections. Currently he is a Corrections Academy Instructor. Additionally David is an NRA Training Counselor and author of 10 different books relating to self reliance.